Year One- Left Foot, Right Foot
Stoick had to admit Hiccup was a little small, and that he was maybe possibly not exactly as strong as other Vikings, but he really wished the kid would quit crawling around and get up. He was almost two and still on all fours. He'd already gotten the hang of talking, earlier than most of the other kids in fact, but he could not get up.
Stoick didn't even know if he was trying. He looked like he was, but the man strongly suspected Hiccup was only putting on a show. It was great that his son was intelligent and all, but couldn't he walk a little bit? He didn't want to pressure Hiccup into doing something, but did it count if Stoick was sure he was perfectly capable?
He avoided bringing Hiccup out to see the village, since having your child follow you around like a dog- literally- wasn't the greatest thing for your reputation.
He did his best to make sure that the boy's constant crawling didn't dictate his opinion of him, and it wasn't always hard. On cold nights, Stoick would sit in his chair and Hiccup would sit on the ground beside it, and they would watch the fire together. Stoick would look at the flames and think of his problems and his son and chief responsibilities, and he assumed Hiccup would think something along the lines of, "Fire…"
During these nights he would forget Hiccup refused to walk, he would just be the little boy staring into the fire. He would be his son, sitting next to him, staring into the fire. It wasn't exactly how he'd imagined having a child would be, but in some ways it was better (though, he'd imagined having a wife with him, so it wasn't entirely better).
He tore his eyes away from the mess of orange and red to look at Hiccup. Hiccup, as if feeling his gaze, turned to look at him in return. He had giant green eyes, ones almost too big for his face. His skin was drenched in freckles and there was a mop of auburn hair on his little head. He wasn't the poster child for Vikingness, but Stoick had come to terms with that, mostly.
The fact was harder to accept when you knew he wouldn't walk.
"Can't ya just take a little step?" He uttered quietly.
The boy understood the words perfectly, and looked at the ground, almost in shame. He sort of felt bad for saying those words, but couldn't tell why it was wrong.
"Okay," Hiccup said. He lifted his head and grabbed Stoick's chair in attempt to pull himself up. Stoick couldn't tell what he was doing for a second, then watched as his son tried to walk. Just for him.
Hiccup got up off the ground, and held the chair as he put his left foot forward. Then his right foot, then left foot. Soon he was at the end of the chair, but attempted to keep going. Stoick realized before it happened that Hiccup would fall. He got out of his chair and took his hands.
He looked up with his giant eyes, almost looking like he was about to yell, "I can do it myself!" But he didn't. He looked straight ahead, and again put his left foot forward. Together, Hiccup walked.
Left foot,
Right foot,
Left foot,
Right foot
This was a good idea. I figured I should do Hiccup's first steps, since his first words would be… I dunno, I can always do that later. I don't have any specific reason on why Hiccup refused to walk, just use your imagination to think up a reason. Then tell me, because I don't know.
Also review, because then I put out chapters faster. Any ideas for his second year? I… don't know.
